


By Your Side

by allthisandheaven_too



Category: Atypical (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic Violence, Established Relationship, F/F, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-08 02:17:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16420472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allthisandheaven_too/pseuds/allthisandheaven_too
Summary: Casey is always the first place Izzie runs to.TW: Domestic violence is the crux of this entire story and gets mentioned a lot, occasionally in detail.





	By Your Side

**Author's Note:**

> WHAT'S UP I'M BACK and now I'm Atypical TRASH. Casey and Izzie have motivated me to write like nothing has in a long time, and I'm just letting it happen. I may have wrote this instead of studying for my organic chemistry midterm, so please please let me know what you think of it. The title is from the song By Your Side by Sade, which really reminds me of Casey and Izzie every time I listen to it. Highly recommend.
> 
> Also, if you have any prompts you want me to write about relating to Casey and Izzie, send them over on my tumblr! I will try to write any/everything I receive. (New url to reflect the new obsession: brig-lundypaine.tumblr.com)

  


It’s one in the morning when Casey’s phone begins blasting “Run Away With Me” by Carly Rae Jepsen.

Izzie set that ringtone for herself weeks ago, that night in the blanket fort. Casey had suggested the two of them just run away from it all, from their insane families and the social pressures of Clayton and everything else that was messing up their lives. Izzie had smiled, said “That reminds me of a song,” and rather than singing or playing said song, she proceeded to show Casey a four-minute compilation video of memes involving the saxophone part of the song’s opening. From then on, it became kind of their thing.

And now that they’re (finally) dating, it’s become kind of their song.

It’s Friday night (or rather, early Saturday), so Casey’s just fucking around on her laptop and generally not sleeping, but the rest of her house is. So before the phone can continue its cacophonous blare, she quickly snatches it up and presses it to her ear.

“Hey, Iz,” she says. “What’s up?”

Izzie makes a strangled gasping noise, and Casey realizes she’s crying. Hard.

“Casey,” she rasps.

Casey springs out of bed and starts looking around for her shoes. “Izzie? What’s wrong? Where are you?”

“Downstairs,” she hiccups. “I’m so sorry, I–”

Casey is at the door in an instant, and then she’s holding an armful of sobbing girlfriend.

“I didn’t– I couldn’t– he–” Izzie manages between sobs. She’s crying harder than Casey has ever seen, and it breaks Casey’s heart. She holds Izzie tightly, stroking her hair, kissing the side of her head.

“Shh,” she whispers. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

Izzie pulls back for a second, and it’s then that Casey notices for the first time the bruise under her left eye. She can’t help the tiny intake of breath she makes upon seeing it.

Izzie immediately ducks and tries to hide it behind her hair, but Casey reaches forward and brushes the hair away. She examines the skin, a mottled pattern of ugly yellow shot through with greens and purples and broken blood vessels. Fury vibrates through her veins.

But another tear slips down Izzie’s cheek, and Casey exhales. All that matters is that Izzie is here, and safe.

“Casey,” she whispers.

“Yeah?”

“My siblings are here.” Her lower lip quivers and she looks about to cry again. “I just told them to get in the car and I started driving and we ended up here and they’re in the car right now because I wasn’t sure if– I just– I’m so so sorry, I just had nowhere else to go.”

Casey pulls Izzie back into her arms. “Don’t be sorry. It’s better that they’re with you.” She leans back and rests a hand on Izzie’s cheek, strokes back and forth with her thumb. “Go get them. But... I’m going to have to wake up my parents, okay?”

Izzie’s shoulders slump, and she nods.

“I’m so sorry,” she says again.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Casey laces her fingers with Izzie’s and squeezes. “Go get them. I– we’ll be here.”

Izzie squeezes back, and then walks back outside. Casey watches her leave, then heads upstairs to her parents’ room.

* * *

When Izzie comes back to the front door, Doug and Elsa are already downstairs in pajamas and a bathrobe, respectively. Casey opens the door for her and there she is, holding the hand of a little boy and carrying a little girl on her hip with her free arm. An older boy, only two years younger than Izzie, sulks behind her. Casey’s met them all before, but briefly.

“Hi Izzie,” Elsa says softly.

“Hi Mrs. Gardner, Mr. Gardner,” Izzie says. “Thank you so much for letting us stay here.”

“Of course,” Doug cuts in. “Make yourselves at home. Now,” he says, turning to the children, “who are these little guys?”

Izzie looks at her siblings, who are unnaturally quiet. They’re all carbon copies of Izzie, with the same thick black hair and tan skin and freckle-covered faces. “Um, this is Eric,” she says, gesturing to the older boy. “This is Max,” she continues, and Max lets go of her hand and just blinks up at her. “And this,” she says with a tiny smile, gesturing to the girl on her hip, “is Luna.”

Elsa lets out a small coo in Luna’s direction. “How old is she?”

Izzie smiles and bounces Luna on her hip, and the image makes Casey’s heart flutter. “Four,” she said.

Elsa leans forward and rubs Izzie’s arm in that specific motherly way, and the concern and love in her eyes blows Casey away.

She pulls back. “Okay, I think we could all use some hot chocolate right now.”

“Chocolate?” Max squeals.

Elsa grins. “That’s right.” She bounces off to the kitchen.

“She’s in full mom mode,” Casey whispers to Izzie. “Now’s your last chance to get out.”

Izzie smiles, but it’s tight, and Casey realizes this was probably the wrong thing to say. She sighs and takes Izzie’s hand instead, and this gets her to relax a bit.

“Izzie,” Doug says, and they both turn to look at him. Casey had almost forgotten he was there. “Let me take a look at your eye, sweetheart.”

Izzie tenses.

“I’m an EMT, remember?” he tries. “It’s my job.”

Casey puts a hand on the small of her back and Izzie looks up at her. She nods encouragingly. Izzie swallows. “Okay.”

She turns to Casey. “Can you hold her?”

Casey’s never held a child before, but of course she says “Sure.”

Izzie looks at Luna, says in a fake excited voice, “You’re gonna go to Casey now, okay?” She hands Luna to Casey, directing her. “Put your hands under her arms. Yeah, like that.” With Luna safe in Casey’s arms, Izzie follows Doug to the kitchen.

Casey smiles at Luna, hoping it’s as non-menacing as possible. “Hi.”

Luna just looks up at her. “Down,” she says.

Casey raises her eyebrows. “Okay then.” She sets Luna down, and she immediately toddles over to Eric and demands “Up!”

Meanwhile, Izzie has moved to the small round table in the kitchen. Doug pulls out a chair to sit in front of her. Casey joins them and hovers behind Izzie’s chair.

“Izzie, may I touch your cheek?” Doug asks.

Izzie nods.

Doug reaches up and presses two fingers lightly against the bruise. She winces and squeezes Casey’s hand.

“Does that hurt?”

Izzie nods.

Doug feels just above and just below the bruise, and when Izzie doesn’t flinch in pain, he leans back. “Okay, I don’t think anything’s broken.” He looks up at Casey. “Case, can you get an ice pack?”

Casey immediately heads to the fridge. Doug pats Izzie’s shoulder and stands up. “It should clear in a few days. Just ice it for now, but if it starts to hurt worse, you’re gonna have to see a doctor.”

Izzie nods. “Thank you,” she says softly.

Casey returns with the ice pack and a mug of hot chocolate, which she places in Izzie’s hands. She sits in the chair her father abandoned and holds the ice pack up to Izzie’s bruise. Izzie winces as the cold touches her skin, but leans into it just the same.

She glances around. Elsa is distributing hot chocolate to all the kids, with gratuitous amounts of whipped cream and marshmallows. Doug emerges from the laundry room carrying an armful of blankets and starts to make up the air bed and couch in the sunroom.

“Your parents are incredible,” she whispers.

Casey smiles. “It’s because your siblings are a lot nicer to them than I am.”

This finally gets a smile out of Izzie. “I’m surprised we’ve made it this far without a meltdown,” she says, looking over Casey’s shoulder to the fridge where Max was giving Luna some of his marshmallows. “They’re usually not this civil.”

“Maybe they’re just tired,” Casey offers.

Izzie looks down, and Casey sees the dark circles beneath her eyes. “Yeah.”

“Hey.” Casey rests her hand on Izzie’s shoulder. “You should probably get some sleep.”

Izzie’s gaze flicks back to her siblings, now standing in the doorway of the sunroom watching Doug and Elsa bicker good-naturedly over the arrangement of the sheets on the air mattress.

“They’ll be fine,” Casey whispers. “My parents can get them to bed.”

“I…”

“At least change.” Casey stands up. “Come on.”

After a moment, Izzie stands up as well. “Yeah. Okay.”

* * *

In Casey’s bedroom, Izzie changes into pj shorts and an oversized t-shirt from one of those old 80s bands Casey likes. They brush their teeth side by side in the bathroom. Now that it’s just them in the upstairs quiet, it feels almost like a regular sleepover.

“I’m going to say goodnight to them,” Izzie says, once they’re back in Casey’s room.

Casey pauses from where she was pulling back the sheets. “If you want to sleep down there with them, I can bring down some more pillows and blankets for you.”

Izzie shakes her head. She crosses her arms firmly over her chest and stands by the door, making no move to leave.

“I just wanna be with you,” she finally says, and her eyes well up with tears again. “Is that awful of me?”

Casey shakes her head. “No. Of course not.” She tilts her head a little, looking at Izzie with soft eyes. “You have to take care of yourself too, you know.”

Izzie lets out a shaky breath and nods, then turns around and slips out.

Casey waits patiently on the bed for about ten minutes before her bedroom door opens again and Izzie appears. She stands in the doorway for a moment, then suddenly runs to the bed and launches herself into it, and onto Casey.

Casey lets out a loud grunt on the impact, even as her arms immediately go up and around to hold Izzie against her. “Jeez, Iz! Could have used a little warning there.”

Izzie scoots up so she can bury her face in Casey’s neck. “He followed me to my grandma’s house.”

Casey tenses. Izzie doesn’t usually talk about the details. She runs her fingers up and down Izzie’s spine. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“I do.” Izzie sits up then, crossing her legs on the bed. “I– A while ago, I was talking to Sam while I was waiting for you to come downstairs.” She pauses and looks around. “Where is he, by the way? I figured he’d come down with all the noise.”

“Sleeping over at Zahid’s again. My mom made him promise to eliminate all sources of sound from his room this time before she let Sam go, so he should be okay.”

“Good.” Izzie smiles. “Well, anyway, he showed me this list he came up with when he was trying to figure out if he loved Paige.”

“Oh good lord,” Casey sighs.

Izzie shrugs. “I thought it was sweet.” She fiddles with her hands in her lap. “And true. Incomplete, sure, but true. And recently I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and us, and, well. Yeah.”

Casey’s heart leaps into her throat. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Izzie leans forward, takes her hand. “According to Sam, if I love you, which I do,” she says, ignoring Casey’s sharp intake of breath, “you should be the first person I tell things to. I- I want you to be the first person I tell things to.”

“Okay, hold on, can we back up for a second?” Casey interrupts. “I know this is super important and hard for you to be doing and you know I totally get that but– you love me?”

Izzie blushes. “Is it too soon?”

“No,” Casey says quickly, rubbing her thumb across Izzie’s knuckles. “No. I just– you _love_ me?”

Izzie rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. “Why is that so hard to believe?”

Casey can’t help the stupid grin that spreads across her lips. “I love you,” she says quietly, even though she wants nothing more than to scream it from the rooftops.

Izzie returns the grin, beaming like a small sun. “I love you too.”

They sit there in silence for a while, smiling dumbly at each other.

Casey’s the one to finally break the silence. “Is it okay if I kiss you right now? I just really want to kiss you right now.”

Izzie nods, giggles. “Yes.”

And Casey does.

* * *

Under the blankets, with all the lights off and Casey’s hand on her waist, Izzie tells Casey everything.

“He was angry again, about I don’t even know what. I didn’t hear the fight before. I just heard stuff breaking and I knew I had to get the kids out of there, so I did. Business as usual. It wasn’t a huge deal. They grabbed their bags and got in the car and we left. I figured it would just be like last time.” She laughs bitterly. “I should have known it wouldn’t always be that easy.”

Casey rubs small circles on Izzie’s hip with her thumb. “What happened?”

“Well, I was getting the kids settled with my grandma and was about to head over to your place when his car pulled into the driveway, and he got out with my mom. They wanted the kids back. I told him there was no way I would let him take them, and he started yelling at me, and they heard us and came outside even though my grandma told them not to. She stayed inside to call the police.” Izzie’s body is tight with fury. “He tried to grab Luna, but Eric picked her up and told him to fuck off. So he tried to hit Eric.” She closes her eyes. “And I stepped between them.”

Casey moves her hand from Izzie’s waist to interlock their fingers. “Is that…”

Izzie nods. “I knew he was crazy, but I didn’t think he’d actually do it.” She laughs sadly. “It finally woke my mom up, though. She went nuts. He probably would have hit me again if she hadn’t started screaming.”

“Oh, Izzie,” Casey murmurs.

“So, yeah. While he was distracted with trying to shut her up, I yelled at the kids to get in the car and we ran. I don’t know what happened to her. I just drove.” She opens her eyes and looks at Casey. “And now I’m here.” She smiles, even as a tear runs down her cheek.

Casey wipes it away. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” she whispers. “Any of you.”

“Promise?” Izzie says quietly, vulnerable.

Casey scoots closer to touch her forehead against Izzie’s. “Forehead promise.”

Izzie breathes a quiet “I love you” against Casey’s lips, and her voice is reverent, and Casey wonders just how she got lucky enough to be allowed to love this girl.

* * *

It’s nine in the morning when Izzie’s phone starts ringing.

Izzie blinks awake at the noise and attempts to detangle herself from Casey’s limbs to grab it from the nightstand. Casey, barely awake, grumbles “No,” and tries to pull Izzie back down. Izzie laughs and gently pushes her off. “Gimme a sec,” she says, her voice slow and groggy, and answers the phone. “Hello?”

The voice on the other end is too quiet for Casey to hear. She closes her eyes again, but then Izzie says “Seriously?” and she sounds so shocked, but for once not upset, and as badly as Casey’s eyes want to stay shut she forces them open and pushes herself up to see Izzie sitting cross-legged in the mess of blankets with her mouth slightly open.

“Yeah,” Izzie says into the phone. “Yeah, we’re okay.” She looks at Casey and smiles, immediately slipping her hand into Casey’s. “I’m okay.”

Casey rests her head on Izzie’s shoulder, and Izzie tilts her head to lean it on Casey’s. “Thank you for letting me know. I’ll see you later. Love you.” She hangs up.

For a moment they just sit there in silence. The morning sun cuts through the blinds and casts golden slants of light across their bodies. Casey plays with their joined hands.

After a moment, she asks, “Who was it?”

“My grandma.”

Casey sits up, suddenly alert. “Is everything okay?”

A grin breaks across Izzie’s face, and she takes Casey’s other hand as well. “They got him.”

Casey’s jaw drops. “Oh my god.”

“I know. The cops made it in time, like just a little after we left. She said she didn’t want to call last night in case we were sleeping, but yeah. They arrested him, and apparently he’s all but guaranteed to go to jail.”

“Oh my god,” Casey repeats, and she hugs Izzie tightly. Izzie hugs back.

“I can’t believe it’s finally over,” she whispers.

Casey pulls away, but immediately rejoins their hands. “So, what now?”

“I guess we go back to living with my mom.” Izzie shrugs. “It’s fine. It won’t be so bad anymore.”

“Oh,” Casey says. “No. I mean like right now.” She gives Izzie her best puppy-dog pout. “We only got, like, seven hours of sleep.”

Izzie rolls her eyes. “How do you survive in the real world?”

“Naps.” Casey wraps her arms around Izzie and flops back on the bed, pulling Izzie down with her as she squeals in surprise. “Preferably with you, but if you don’t want to participate I’m sure I can manage.”

“Fine, you’ve convinced me.” Izzie pulls the blankets back over the two of them and curls up into Casey. “Though it’s not like I had much of a choice.”

Casey grins. “Nope.”

Izzie leans in for a kiss, and Casey leans in to give her one, and at that exact moment the door flies open.

“Girls, I made pancakes– Oh!”

“Mom!”


End file.
